Social Media & Scholars

How Social Media and Online Social Networks are Changing the Ways in Which Scholars Disseminate Knowledge and Information

(Social Media Related Research Initiatives) – Funded by a $161,000 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant – Principal Investigator, 2010-2013.

Social media has become more mainstream in recent years, and the use of social media has skyrocketed. Numerous studies have been conducted on how the general public is using SM; however, very little work has been done on how scholars are using and adapting to these new tools. The goal of the project is to fill this significant void in the literature by conducting a comprehensive study using both quantitative and qualitative methods to discover if, how and why Canadian scholars and their international counterparts are using these new tools for knowledge and information dissemination. This research will help us to better understand changing scholarly communication and publishing practices in the age of social media.

§ Gruzd, A., Staves, K., and Wilk, A. (2011). Tenure and Promotion in the Age of Online Social Media. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Conference, October 9-13, 2011, New Orleans, LA, USA. DOI: 10.1002/meet.2011.14504801154